The advent means the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Christian world Christmas is always looked forward to with great expectation. Christmas day is a renowned holiday in Christian countries. The meaning however has been distorted or should I say altered by the rush to do Christmas shopping, buy presents and spend millions of dollars to celebrate the greatest event in history. As you probably know Christmas has many add-ons such as ‘father Christmas’ who whilst taking the name of ‘father’ and ‘Christmas’ has nothing to do with the real meaning of Advent. Advent is the four weeks before Christmas that represents the preparation and announcement of the coming of the baby Jesus, God’s Son. The Advent has a remarkable history that I want to tell you about. It adds a greater meaning to Christmas and our world that can ever be imagined.

WHERE DID JESUS COME FROM?

We have already established that Jesus came from the line of Abraham. Matthew gives a detailed account of his genealogy. (descendants) He says he was the son of David, and the son of Abraham by descent. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is a human being by descent. (See the article where did Jesus Christ come from) (Mat 1:1:17.) This, however is only one side of his descent. It may help you to understand this if I explain how a family name and descent is recognised in China. A child, whether male or female, always takes the name of their father, and even if a female marries she never takes the name of her husband but always keeps the name of her father, because she is a descendant of the male line, not the female line. This holds true with the name and descent of Jesus Christ, for although a human being, Jesus Christ was God’s descendant and God is therefore his Father, for which reason he is called the Son of God.

Just as you are descended from your parents, flesh of their flesh and name of their name, so Jesus is descended from God, and is therefore God of God, and Son of God like you are son or daughter of your parents, and therefore mans nature of man nature. By nature you are conceived by your parents and so inherit their nature, their genes, their genetic make-up and their features. Jesus Christ was born of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit of God and so he is God’s Son, in fact God’s only begotten Son. (John 3:16)

THE HISTORICAL FACTS

The story of Christmas is the story of Christ’s birth. How did this come about? The bible record says that in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to announce the birth of a Saviour and King, Jesus Christ. If you have read the story in full you will know that there were also three wise men from the east who followed the Star of Bethlehem which they believed to be a sign that the Christ King would be born, for it was known far and wide that one day God would send a Messiah, a king whose kingdom would have no end.

The angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin, engaged to be married to Joseph of the House of David. This is what took place:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you willconceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne ofhis ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.

(Luke 1:31-35) From this you will understand that the angel called the Son to be born, the ancestor of David. (Italics) The angel said to Mary ‘...and now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,...’ (Italics) That was the most perplexing thing for Mary to hear for she was a virgin, unmarried. She had no premarital sex for she was a chaste and holy girl. The reply astonished her, for the angel said that ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.’

It is clear from this statement that Jesus Christ was to have no human male descent except through the female line, Mary. And he was to take his Father’s name and title, the Son of God. Mark’s gospel begins with the statement: ‘The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ (Mark 1:1) So Jesus Christ was both God by his descent, and man by his descendants through Mary to Abraham. He was of the seed of Abraham but only begotten by God. Obviously there is a mystery here that cannot be explained by the laws of nature but only by the laws of God and yet the laws of nature and the laws of God are not in opposition. For as the angel said to Mary who exclaimed, ‘How can this be since I am a virgin?’ (Luke 1:34) To which the angel replied, after explaining how this would happen, ‘Nothing is impossible for God.’ So Mary accepted the angel’s declaration. She said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

We will soon examine other historical facts. These are not fairy tales but took place at the time when king Herod ruled over Jerusalem. We will make some amazing discoveries.